SM Line to Withdraw Four Ships from Indonesian Services

South Korea’s shipping firm SM Line has unveiled plans to remove four vessels from its Indonesian services.

The company will withdraw the ships from the Korea-Jakarta route as the member companies from the Korea Shipping Partnership (KSP) started the second round of service reorganizations.

With the withdrawal of the ships, one of the five routes on the Korea-Jakarta trade would be cut.

The latest restructuring comes on the back of the KSP companies’ decision to withdraw seven vessels from Korea-Japan and Korea-Thailand routes, made in November, South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries informed.

Furthermore, KSP shipping companies are planning to open new routes between China and Vietnam utilizing three of the vessels withdrawn in the earlier restructuring move.

The Vietnam Haiphong route would also be reorganized as the companies look to explore new routes.

“The voluntary restructuring of shipping companies has been progressing and we are very encouraged,”Eom Ki-doo, director of shipping and logistics at Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF), said.